Advice from Nicklaus - approaching greens

Taken from "The best of Nicklaus' golf (1992)" here are some points worth discussing.

Lesson 50 Principles of position Play
-"when you pass a hole you'll be playing later do you note the pin position? I'd bet that not 5 in a hundred weekend golfers do it habitually"
-"there is an ideal route for playing every hole of golf"
-"go to the movies"

Lesson 51 Iron shot strategy
-"always and I mean always tee the ball up on par-3 holes"

Lesson 52 Distance factors in approaching
-"On all approach shots I take a club that I believe will get me up, even if I miss it slightly"
-"trouble behind greens is frequently less severe than hazards in front"

Lesson 53 When to gamble on approach shots
-""working in from the middle.""
-"by aiming say 20 feet to the left or right of the pin and trying to fade or draw the ball in toward it, I give myself a much greater margin for error. Now I can miss the shot by 40 feet and still keep the ball within 20 feet of the hole."

I doubt these points will have been raised with McIlroy but definitely most of them I rarely see my playing partners doing in Club golf.

My routine is:
1. Think about the approach before the previous shot.
2. Work out the distance to the front, middle, and back of the green.
3. Consider the best side to miss the green. (not that I usually do)
4. Consider the behaviour of the ball on the green.
5. Check the lie of the ball (tight,rough, divot, downslope etc.)
6. Check the wind (grass, tree tops, flag)
7. Pick a spot that will leave an uphill putt if possible.
8. Once decided on the yardage and effect of the wind I pick the appropriate club and programme the swing length with a few practice swings.
9. Choose a shot shape into the green depending on the pin position.
10. "Go to the movies"
11. Set up for the shot shape.
12. Hit the ball.
13. Watch the ball land and stop near the flag.

How to read putts

Reading putts is like 'touch' in that it can't be taught but it can be learnt.

Everyone's reading of a putt will be different, because everyone has a different putting stroke. I hit my putts with a bit of a hook (must be my only similarity with POD) and I've seen a lot of golfers who putt with a cut stroke - so for myself and someone with a putt stroke the reading of the same putt could be different by the width of the hole quite comfortably, but we may well both hole it.

In the same way, a putt for me that has break will tend to have 'full' break as I aim to be as close to dead weight as I can be with any putt over 5 or 6 feet. People who hammer each and every putt at the hole will have real problems if they putt on those lines.

You'll be able to find plenty of websites, books or magazine articles that promise to tell you how to read putts, but the only answer is to really try to reason why you think what you think (what factors are at play or is it genuinely just a gut feeling) and then be honest with the results - did it miss due to a bad stroke or due to a bad read, etc.

Learn from the best

You'll probably be pleased to hear that one of the most effective ways to improve is simply by watching the top players in the world on television. By scrutinising the technique of Tiger Woods or Ernie Els, you will see just how a good swing should look.

The top pros all have a perfect posture, and they remain well balanced throughout the swing. By having a picture of their technique in your mind when you swing, your own mechanics are likely to improve without having to work too hard on the range.

It is also worth watching how such top players prepare to play. The majority of them have a pre-shot routine to help focus on the situation at hand. Again, if you copy one particular pre-shot routine that you like, you are likely to become a better player.

Good luck, and here's an excellent Tiger Woods swing video to get you started.

Get lessons to get ahead

To make a lasting improvement to your swing, it's really important to take regular lessons with a qualified pro - and a good one at that.

They will be able to assess your game in the cold light of day, hopefully using the latest gadgets to tell you swing plane stats and how the ball is coming off the clubface. But most importantly, they'll simply take a look at your swing and be able to give you some good advice because they've seen it all before.

If you are serious about shooting low scores and you're not a child prodigy, your only real option is to get lessons from someone who knows what they're doing. It will be worth the money and it most certainly will be worth the time.

Regular lessons over the course of months or years will help you and your chosen pro get to know your strengths, weaknesses and things you need to work on to break into the low numbers.

Golf is only fun when you're winning, right?

What's your worst moment on the golf course?

We had your Seve moments recently, now we're going to talk about the opposite - the Van de Velde moments if you will.

Mine came at the par three 14th at The Oxfordshire - a fairly straightforward 165-yard hole - huge bunker all the way up the left and a bit of a muddy mess immediately in front of the raised tee.

Needless to say I plopped a five iron into the muddy rough and a after a brief search, we found said ball, which had appeared to spin back after almost plugging.

What followed next can only be described as a nightmare.

I managed to top my next shot, slamming it deep underground and unplayable, so a drop and a pulled nine iron left me in the bunker, some dozen feet or so beneath the green and short-sided.

Two out the sand on to the bank and by this point I could feel myself going. Shot seven was hit with no thought or care, but it turned out to be the best of the lot, to a foot of the pin and my playing parner kindly spared my the possibility of missing it.

An eight.

Okay, I've had worse scores, but I'd been playing some really nice, steady golf (we both had), good course management and after a 46 out, was on course for a low 90s score.

In the end, a five on the last brought me home in 98 and although I would have settled for breaking 100 at the start of the round, it felt like disappointing score.

Great course though, certainly helped by the fact we seemed to be the only place in Britain without rain. Driving up the M40 we both doubted whether we would get a game as it was fairly chucking it down and visibility down to a decent pitching wedge.

But the rain abated for four hours and we had an enjoyable morning.

Lovely course, with some excellent holes - particularly enjoyed the par four eighth with two shots over water to a green that felt like an island and the par 5 17th, which has an intriguing second over water should you be long enough off the tee.

Felt quite links-y in places with lots of pot bunkers - in fact, lots of sand in general.

Anyway, tell me about your round-wreckers in the comments below.

Reading putts - an art in itself?

Yesterday played a Texas Scramble, four of us playing in pairs usual rules picking best shot from two after each shot.
Watching my playing partner putt first I had amazing results with my putting, sinking three longish putts. This made me think, just how good (or bad) am I at reading putts? Given I haven't putted that well in ages it made me think that usually I must be pretty poor at reading putts.

Question - is it an acquired skill? Has anyone had lessons in this?

Your Seve moment

First round of the year for me yesterday and, all things considered (one blast on the range and a few putts on Monday, and an almost air-shot on the first tee with the following three ball watching) it turned out not too bad.

I was at the Addington, near Croydon, courtesy of the vivabox golf vouchers thing, and once I'd replaced my ball (playing on my own, always have a mulligan on the first!) and hit to the edge of the green on the first (par three) then all settled down.

Until I got to the sixth and stuck my tee shot behind a tree on the left of the fairway. About 160 yards to the centre of the green and the prospect of PG Wodehouse's famed bunker guarding up the right.

Out came the six iron, gripped down the shaft to try and keep the ball low as there were overhanging branches 50 yards ahead to keep under.

My big fear was hitting the tree and being forced to deal with the inevitable ricochet - I had pictures in my mind of my wife being called to stretcher my stricken body away - but no, I hit the shot of my life - I even somehow managed to end up like Seve with arms in the air, striding after the ball.

It set out towards the right and drew back to finish on the front edge and I escaped with my only par of the day.

I'm just glad it didn't stay out right because I would have been in that bunker and having got up close to it, the picture does not do justice to the depth of that hollow!

I blame the adrenaline for my minor disaster on the 140-yard par three seventh when I flicked my pitching wedge a good 15 yards over the back of the green and then duffed the return pitch and walked off with a five - gotta love this game!

So, brighten up my Friday and let me have your dream shots - those escapes from near impossible positions to set up birdies, pars, or even just because it felt great.

Shot of the year from the 2010 Masters - Phil Mickelson

With every great championship, comes a shot that defines the whole thing. For this year's US Masters champion, it was this peach at the 13th.

Why was this shot so good? Well, for one, it required sublime shot-shaping abilities to keep it low and whip it around the trees. It also required nerves of steel and great guts to go for it when he could have simply chipped out and gone for par or bogey.

This is around 200 yards out, there's a creek in the way, he's playing off the pine cones and he's gunning for a major on the last day. Kudos to you, Phil Mickelson.

Enjoy!

Reaction to Tiger's new Nike ad

So, Nike are attempting to re-brand Woods as the wounded warrior, rather than the perfect machine he was before. Marketing people are often smart, but they often miss the mark too. This ad definitely misses the mark; for every one person who says "oh my god, that's amazing", there's 99 saying "Jesus CHRIST, that's embarrassing.".

And the parodies have already started, take this video from thecaseydonahue on YouTube:



Oh and here's the original in case you haven't seen it yet:

David Leadbetter's Perfect Posture Drill

This is a great tip by the best golf coach of them all - David Leadbetter.

In this video he discusses the importance of a perfect posture and an easy drill to help you attain it.



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